First off 2015 brought with it our second child. Allison was born on "Star Wars" day (May the 4th). It was a beautiful day that day. I woke up on my first day of maturity leave (a week before my due date) with a list of items to do while Elijah was at school that day. I had plans for how to get him to and from school in case I went into labor I was all set. Except at 5:00 am I was convinced my water had broke so I woke everyone up dressed the boy put everyone in the car and made myself some tea. We dropped Elijah off with my dad and went on to the hospital. I actually felt contractions this time around. With Elijah it just felt like a continual Charlie Horse in my abdomen. This time around it was text book contractions. When they told me my water hadn't broke, I was fearful they would send me home, but since I needed two doses of antibiotics they kept me there and started the IV. I don't remember this with Elijah but holy pain! I think that was more painful than the actual contractions. Everything went well and after they broke my water they realized the cord was around the baby's neck so they had me wait 10 minutes which turned into an hour. By 3 we were all so board and slap happy we were giving the nurses a run for their money. 3-4 pushes later baby girl was out and I was so relieved it was a girl I cried. I love baby girl but the road to get there was a very bumpy one.
The first four months of 2015 were probably the hardest ones of my life. I suffered from sciatic pain in both hips, lower back pain, and worst and most persistent was the dislocation of my pelvic joint. Every day one to all of the issues showed their ugly face. I was also a basket of blubbering hormones. I was down right crazy pregnate lady. By about February I stopped sleeping more than 2 hours in a row and no more than 4 hours a night.
After Allison was born I had an easy first few weeks with Elijah in school and a neighbor taking him to and from almost every day. Then the bottom dropped out. While in the hospital I received an email from the state saying I didn't have the qualifications to get my real school licenses unless I took 4 classes. Because I didn't understand what they were saying I didn't take action quickly, turned out I really did need to take 4 classes by the end of January. I am now a current student to the University of Phoenix. I spend most my nights completing course work or projects, not fun.
As with Elijah I wanted to nurse Allison as long as possible. She was born in the 80-90 percentile for weight and around her 2 month visit had dropped to 60 something percentile. I started going crazy about feeding, how much she was eating, how often, how to increase my production. I had gotten to a point that every 2 hours I was either pumping or nursing (all which took 20-30 minutes). When we went back at 4 months Allison was closer to the 20 something percentile than anything else. That did it. I was failing my baby, the world, life. It was horrible. On top of all that around 3 months I was trying to bottle feed Allison and she refused the bottle. The first 2 weeks at daycare she wouldn't eat...at all. I was heartbroken and there was no one that I felt truly understood how I was feeling (I actually don't think I knew until after I was done). I introduced formula as a 2 oz supplement to bottles during the day and nursed at night. By her 6th month visit she was back over the 50th percentile which helped calm me, but still made me feel like a parental failure.
I started this pregnancy out about 15 pounds heavier than my ideal body weight, I proceeded to put on an additional 40 pounds. After she was out the weight called my body home. That and the food was so delicious. At this point (almost 8 months post) I am still 25-30 pounds over where I want to be. But with the job, mom/wife duties and classes, there isn't much time left to be more active.
Don't get me wrong, my life is still great, but I am having a crazy time adjusting to the new two kid family. I have two weeks left of my last class, Allison is consistently eating stage two baby food but not yet sleeping through the night, Bj has a wonderful amazing job, the dog is getting along with us, and I have both a boy and a girl child that love each other.
Here's to 2016 to become a steady, stable, normal. With 6 full hours of sleep a night. My goals are simple, yet extensive this year.
